Natural resource conflict management case studies: an analysis of power, participation and protected areas

This report presents a collection of case studies which focus on processes of conflict management and resolution and the different ways and means that conflicts are addressed. The authors examine the intervention strategies, methods and tools employed by different actors, as well as the underlying interests and assessment of options in conflict management and resolution.

The collection covers cases involving conflicts and conflict management processes in a wide range of sectoral, ecological and regional settings, including conflicts between urban and rural residents over the management of watersheds, between large- and small-scale agricultural producers over land, between members of different communities over use of forests, and between villagers and state officials over access to, and use of, protected areas. The case studies are taken from Africa, Asia and the Americas.

The studies deal with a number of strategies, methods and tools used in natural resource conflict management and resolution, including indigenous/local practices, legal systems and alternative conflict management approaches. Although the focus is on community-based natural resource management regimes, the case studies themselves often involve a wide variety of interested parties or actors, including governments, corporations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and technical assistance agencies.

The articles included in the collection are:

• Community-based natural resource conflict management: the case of watershed planning in Metro Cebu, the Philippines
• Conflict resolution in the Namanve Peri-Urban Reforestation Project in Uganda
• Conflict management over contested natural resources: a case study of pasture, forest and irrigation in South Wello, Ethiopia
• Conflicts over community-based “Repong” resource management in Pesisir Krui Region, Lampung Province, Indonesia
• From conflict to co-management: the case of the Blue Forest
• Contesting rights to forest land in China
• Forest user conflict management in The Gambia
• Beyond conflict in Clayoquot Sound: the future of sustainable forestry
• Managing conflict around contested natural resources: a case study of Rusitu Valley area, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe
• Research as mediation: linking participatory action research to environmental conflict management in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
• Natural resource conflict management: the case of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks, Southwestern Uganda
• Moving from open access extraction to new participatory levels of accountable management Malampaya Sound, Palawan, the Philippines